Top 100 songs...

Okay, I'm going to try this again. Rolling Stone magazine recently released their top 500 songs issue. So I figured that I should jump on the bandwagon and try to do something similar. These may not be the best songs technically, structurally, or critically, but I like them. This is a very tough challenge. I love music. There are literally thousands of songs that I like. I may be light on the classics (which are amazing songs), but these are the kind of songs that I can listen to over and over again. I do not mean to knock any musicians or genres. My list would probably be completely different if you asked me to do it again tomorrow. Here are 100 songs that I think are really, really, really good. The top 10 will be listed numerically, the remaining 90 are in random order (it would be too damn hard for me to list 100 songs in numerical order).

1. Atmosphere - Joy Division (Haunting, beautiful, and perfect. Sometimes it makes me tear up).
2. It's All Over Now Baby Blue - Them (This is a great Dylan song that's been covered numerous times, but Van Morrison nails it on this one. Beautiful. Also check out the really cool 13th Floor Elevators version.)
3. Tupelo - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (This is why Nick Cave is my favorite musician.)
4. Mercy Seat - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Emotional, poignant, and raw, my favorite song about the electric chair.)
5. Swamp Thing - Chameleons (This was my favorite song to dance to in my clubbing days and I have the tattoo to prove it.)
6. Cotton Crown - Sonic Youth (Not the typical Sonic Youth song. It's pretty.)
7. Hallelujah - John Cale (An awesome cover of a Leonard Cohen classic. It shocked the hell out of me when I heard it in Shrek.)
8. Woodstock - Joni Mitchell (Joni's myriad range transcends the earthly realm.)
9. Ocean Rain - Echo & the Bunnymen (The Bunnymen are one of my favorite bands to sing along to and this one tops the list.)
10. Do You Love Me? - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Powerful and trance-inducing. Lots of raw energy and emotion.)

And in no particular order...

God Only Knows - Beach Boys
Spooky Vibes - Blind Mr. Jones
Chelsea Girl - Ride
Chelsea Girls - Nico
The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash
The Eternal - Joy Division
At Last - Etta Jones (Not Etta James, Etta Jones. I had the great honor of hearing this live one month before she died. Wow!!!)
Sound and Vision - David Bowie
A Thousand Stars Burst Open - Pale Saints
Wild Cats of Kilkenny - Pogues
Candle - Sonic Youth
Tame - Pixies
Mandinka - Sinead O'Connor
Beds Are Burning - Midnight Oil
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want - Smiths
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday
Titus - Split Enz
A Love Supreme - John Coltraine (Okay, this may be in 3 parts, but it may be the most musically genius piece ever composed.)
Sehnsucht - Einsturzende Neubauten
Genius Spider - Trains, and Boats, and Planes
Slowly Rising - Nightblooms
Summer - Yo La Tengo
Tom Traubert's Blues - Tom Waits
John Zorn's S&M Circus - Lounge Lizards
Murder in Mairyland Park - Stina Nordenstam
Birthday - Sugarcubes
Power and the Passion - Midnight Oil
Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones
I Believe - Tears For Fears
Drive - Throwing Muses
Hole In the River - Crowded House
Pictures of You - The Cure
We're Desperate - X
Seven Seas - Echo and the Bunnymen
Madam Butterfly - Malcolm McLaren
Blue Rondo A La Turk - Dave Brubeck
The Door-to-Door Inspector - Fatima Mansions
Waiting For a Superman - Flaming Lips
Autobahn - Kraftwerk
The Man With the Child In His Eyes - Kate Bush (Where are you, Kate?)
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
23 Minutes in Brussels - Luna
Eight Miles High - Byrds (Roger McQuinn RULES the guitar on this one.)
Sometimes - My Bloody Valentine
Vapour Trail - Ride
Into My Arms - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
The Weeping Song - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
I'm Going Out of My Way - Stereolab
Crosswords - Split Enz
Haul Away - Split Enz
She's Dancing, He's Dreaming - Julian Schnabel
Public Image - PIL
The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey
The Seeming and the Meaning - Stereolab
Paint It Black - Rolling Stones
Time After Time - Cyndi Lauper (Don't laugh! I love Cyndi Lauper. She was my first concert. Would you believe that CONCRETE BLONDE opened?)
Lorelei - Pogues
Fairytale of New York - Pogues with Kirsty MacColl
Soho Square - Kirsty MacColl
Arctic World - Midnight Oil
Stagger Lee - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (This song has the single-most disturbing line of all time. I dare not repeat it here.)
Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths
The Stolen Child - The Waterboys
Teenage Riot - Sonic Youth
Rock of Gibraltar - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Forgotten Years - Midnight Oil
Cherry Chapstick - Yo La Tengo
Heart Full of Soul - Yardbirds
Fight the Power - Public Enemy
Troy - Sinead O'Connor
Drink Before the War- Sinead O'Connor
Three Babies - Sinead O'Connor
The Final Solution - Pere Ubu
I Wanna Destroy You - The Softboys
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda - Pogues
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - The Platters
Subway I Call You - Gary Numan
Cuts You Up - Peter Murphy
Murderers, the Hope of Women - Momus
Urge For Going - Joni Mitchell
Raise the Bells - Folk Implosion
Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
Isolation - Joy Division
Handsome Johnny - Richie Havens
God Bless the Child - Billie Holiday
What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus
Into Temptation - Crowded House
Straight to You - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
It Was A Pleasure Then - Velvet Underground

Well, there it is. It may or may not come out to 100, but it should be close. Like I said before, my list would probably be completely different if I was asked to do it again tomorrow. These are just 100 of 1000's that I enjoy, but these are special for some reason or another.

Today's wine recommendation- Have a beer today!
Until the next bottle...
Cheers,
Jason